By Oliver Brett BBC Sport, Lord's

The terrestrial bids, if accepted, would have resulted in a significant economic impact... cuts would have to be made Giles Clarke, Chairman, ECB's marketing committee

For an organisation that has hardly curried favour in recent months over its dealings with Zimbabwe, the England and Wales Cricket Board seems certain to lose even more friends now.

After an almost vitriolic question-and-answer session following its announcement that all live televised cricket would be the sole preserve of Sky subscribers from 2006, came this comment from Clive Leach.

The chairman of Durham, and a former director of ITN, Leach said bluntly: "There will always be people in certain walks of life who cannot afford certain things.

"That's the way it will be."

Leach was part of the ECB team, including lawyers and consultants, who had mulled over the various bids before making sure they accepted the highest cash offerings on the table.

For what they called legal reasons, they were unable to divulge any details about failed bids, although Channel 4 was swift to say it had made a "full and substantial offer to try to retain the live rights to Test cricket".

After installation costs, it costs nearly £40 a month to buy a sports subscription package on Sky.

One immediate question is whether the pensioners who make up more than one-third of cricket television viewers will be prepared to pay that amount.

Viewing figures, summer 2004: 1st Test v NZ (Ch 4) | 2nd Test v NZ (Sky) (in '000s) Day 1: 631 | 97 Day 2: 827 | 163 Day 3: 955 | 219 Day 4: 1,038 | 334 Day 5: 1,014 | 85

More importantly, the children who form the future lifeblood of the game are destined to miss live Test cricket in the holidays if their parents are not or do not become Sky subscribers.

The ECB is clinging to the importance of the 45-minute highlights package which will have a guaranteed slot on Five from 7.15pm to 8pm.

But Five will have much to prove - one in 20 households are so "remote" that they cannot access the channel.

The evening programme, despite its popularity across all networks, will also be fighting for attention with heavyweight soap offerings on BBC1 and ITV1.

The BBC did not make a TV bid, claiming its sports schedules are already too full to accomodate cricket.

Have Your Say on TMS Have the ECB made the right decision?

However BBC radio will become the sole terrestrial broadcaster of England's home matches.

David Morgan, chairman of the ECB, defended the selection of Five for its highlights package.

"The commitment is very real," he said. "When we awarded the contract to Channel 4 some years ago it was without it having had any track record in televising cricket.

"We are confident that Five will be significantly good partners."

The ECB hope continued success by England will attract more TV viewers

A spokesman for the broadcaster was oblique when asked to comment on how Five would run the highlights.

"It will be packed with action but there's very little we can say about the personnel," he said.

"It will be produced to a high standard and is unlikely to be a magaziney type programme."

While acknowledging its announcement will create an "emotive response" in many quarters, the ECB gave a stark warning about what may have happened should it have turned down the BSkyB bid.

Giles Clarke, chairman of its marketing committee, said: "The current terrestrial bids, if accepted, would have resulted in a significant economic impact on cricket.

"Cuts would have had to have been made across all areas of the game."

Inevitably, he was keen to detail the positives - up to 20 central contracts for England players and an England A fixture against the touring sides.

But are those crumbs of comfort enough to win back the existing army of detractors? It appears unlikely.